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The Vrushti Kothari Case: A missing daughter, a mysterious email that speaks of spiritual experiences, two worried families and clueless cops

OpIndia Staff
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The Vrushti Kothari Case: A missing daughter, a mysterious email that speaks of spiritual experiences, two worried families and clueless cops

“There were some things I couldn’t live with. While you were gone, I had some very intense spiritual experiences which I cannot explain to you. Those experiences made me take certain actions. I am emailing you to let you know that I am perfectly alright,” read the email that the mother of Vrushti Kothari received from her daughter days after she went missing.

No one’s sure yet if the email was indeed sent by Vrushti herself. The police, meanwhile, are trying to verify the identity of the person who sent it and is trying to ascertain the IP address of the computer from which it was sent. The email was sent on the 7th of October at 3.22 p.m. in the afternoon.

Vrushti (24) went missing on the 1st of October along with her friend Shivam Patel (25). Vrushti is a fashion designer who lives with her family in Bodakdev, Ahmedabad. She had gone to visit her childhood friend and her driver had dropped her off at Shivam’s house in Vasant Vihar near H L Commerce College on the 30th of September. Her phone remained untraceable for the next two days following which her mother took to social media for help.

Her mother succeeded in attracting the attention of actress Soha Ali Khan whose post on the matter pushed the Police into action. Authorities suspect that the two could have eloped, however, it doesn’t make much sense as the two were well acquainted with each other and they visited each other at their respective homes often.

On Saturday, the Police claimed to have spotted Vrushti Kothari and Shivam at Ahmedabad Railway Station carrying bags. The guy was wearing a light blue collared Tshirt, jeans and a cap while the girl was in a maroon polka-dot dress. However, Vrushti’s family refused to accept that the woman seen in the CCTV footage was the missing girl.

DCP (Zone-1) P L Maal said, “Based on the features of two people caught on CCTV cameras near Shivam’s residence, we scanned CCTV footage at different locations in the city. We spotted two persons with similar features boarding a train at Kalupur railway station. However, Vrushti’s mother has refused to accept the girl as her daughter.”

Maal added, “Primary investigation reveals that the two had kept their bags in the luggage room earlier. And, collected it later. We are also trying to find out which train did the two board. They could have got onto a train headed for Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh or some city in Rajasthan. Once we figure out their destination, teams will be dispatched in that direction.”

The maternal grandfather of Vrushti Kothari, Abhay Kothari told Mirror, “Police showed the footage from the railway station to my daughter. She told them that the person is not Vrushti. My grand-daughter is 4 feet and 11 inches tall, while the girl in the CCTV footage looked taller. The girl had a darker skin tone compared to Vrushti. Her hairstyle was different, too. The girl’s forehead was clearly visible. Vrushti’s forehead was not, due to her hair cut. Vrushti would have had to tie her hair above her head to expose her forehead.”

Meanwhile, the Police discovered bottles of alcohol at Shivam’s place. The Police asserted that a case will be registered against the missing boy if the alcohol was not purchased through a permit.

Thus, we have a couple of childhood friends who went missing without any apparent reason. The mother of the missing child receives an email from someone who claims to be her daughter, could very well be her daughter, which speaks of the missing girl going through some intense spiritual experiences.

Then, we have CCTV footage which the Police thinks shows the missing girl but her family denies strongly. In the midst of it all, we have two very worried families who have no idea what has happened to their children. The Police, meanwhile, doesn’t have much clue about the whereabouts of the two missing people. Investigations are currently on and headway into the matter could be made soon.

Indo-Russian joint venture to soon produce 6.7 lakh AK-203 assault rifles in Amethi factory

OpIndia Staff
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Indo-Russian joint venture to soon produce 6.7 lakh AK-203 assault rifles in Amethi factory

Following the Army’s technical clearance and a commercial bid likely to be submitted by next month, the rifles factory in Amethi which was inaugurated in March is all set to receive an order to manufacture 6.7 lakh Kalashnikov assault rifles soon.

The joint venture Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited for production of AK 203 assault rifles is all set to get an approval at an acquisition meeting later this month and will move to the subsequent stage of the inking of the contract to start manufacturing.

Initially, during the first phase, 6.7 lakh rifles will be manufactured for the Army and the count will soar to at least 7.5 lakh depending on the requirements of other forces. The technology transfer clause of the deal will be fulfilled after the first one lakh rifles are manufactured, following which all components of the weapon system will be produced in India. The project is expected to produce AK 203 rifles that will cost about $1000 each.

Though the Amethi factory was officially inaugurated earlier in March, it was yet to get orders as they had to go through the acquisition process of negotiating technical and commercial terms. As per sources, the deal inked with Russia mandates complete transfer of technology on modern assault rifles to India.

Hailing the joint venture, a top Army officer said that it is an epitome of how India has gained technology transfer through planned acquisitions. The joint venture for manufacturing of Kalashnikov rifles has been acclaimed as one of the ‘fastest’ ones brought about by Russia for an Indian venture.

In addition to this, the factory is getting operational with the supplied equipment to manufacture weapons and armaments procured. Besides, a serving Major General from the Army is been assigned the job of supervising the development.

Congress’ self goal: Mallikarjun Kharge terms Rajnath Singh performing Shastra Puja of Rafale as ‘tamasha’, invokes Bofors

OpIndia Staff
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Congress’ self goal: Mallikarjun Kharge terms Rajnath Singh performing Shastra Puja of Rafale as ‘tamasha’, invokes Bofors

In yet another massive self-goal scored by Congress party, senior Congress leader and former Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha – Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday called the ‘Shastra Puja’ as a ‘tamasha’ and attacked Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for performing it as he received the first Rafale aircraft on the day of Vijayadashami.


Calling Shastra Puja as a ‘tamasha’, Kharge further said that the previous Congress government bought weapons like the Bofors guns, but no one went and brought them by showing off. In a hurry to attack the Modi government, Kharge recalled the Bofors scam to compare it with the Rafale deal.

“Our Air Force officers judge whether they are good or not. These people go, show off, sit inside (the aircraft),” said Kharge. 

Interestingly, while the quality of Bofors and Rafale have never been questioned, Kharge also indirectly hinted that the quality of the Rafale will be judged by the Air Force. Kharge seems to forget that the IAF had wanted to Rafale even during the Congress tenure but the Congress had asserted that they had no money to buy the jets. In fact, there was also speculation that the Congress party had not purchased the Rafale because they wanted to buy the Eurofighter. Christian Michel, Congress era middleman in the Agusta Westland case was also a middleman for Eurofighter as was Defence Dalal Sanjay Bhandari who has close links with Robert Vadra.

The controversial Bofors deal, which is known to be the first inter-continent defence scam had linked former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. There were exclusive investigative reports that had questioned Sonia Gandhi’s Italian family involvement in the Bofors scam. OpIndia had earlier accessed evidence to show that Sonia Gandhi’s Italian family could have been involved in the Bofors scandal, with their names carefully hidden from the public eye.

The Bofors deal for 155 mm field howitzers which Kharge referenced became a big scandal during the erstwhile Rajiv Gandhi government, with senior government functionaries accused of taking kickbacks in exchange of approving the deal.

Since yesterday, the Congress party has been continuously attacking the Modi government after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh performed the Shastra Puja on Rafale aircraft and wrote ‘Om’ on it. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had visited France to receive the first unit of Indian Air Force’s Rafale fighter jet from France which also coincided with Vijayadashami and also Indian Airforce day.

Shashtra puja, the weapons’ worship as part of Dussehra celebrations, came under attack from the Opposition parties especially the Congress party. Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit accused the Narendra Modi government of saffronising the Rafale handover. “This religious context of Vijayadashami and the Rafale aircraft doesn’t match. A festival that all of us celebrate, why should it be linked with an aircraft?” said Sandeep Dikshit courting a controversy.

Former AAP leader Alka Lamba, who recently joined the Congress brought in communal references to attack Modi government for performing Shastra Puja. “If former Defence Minister AK Antony would have been the Minister of Defence or former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had this fortune today, what would have happened had taken Bible and Quran as per their religion like Rajnath Singh?” Alka Lamba wrote on Twitter.

Alka Lamba went on to mock Rajnath Singh as she tweeted a photo of lemons placed under the wheels of the jet. “France made Rafale has not even reached India and India has already achieved its first major success by squashing two green lemons and saved the country from the eyes of the evil.”

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has hit back at Congress party after they criticised Rafale Shastra Puja performed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Home Minister Shah said that the sole purpose of Congress was to oppose the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and stated that the puja was performed by the Defence Minister as per Indian traditions.

“Congress did not like it. Is Shastra puja not performed on Vijayadashami? They should ponder over what needs to be criticised and what not,” Amit Shah said a rally in Haryana on Wednesday.

Progressives against Hinduism: Far-Left propaganda rag The Telegraph campaigns against ‘Putran Dehi’

OpIndia Staff
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Progressives against Hinduism: Far-Left propaganda rag The Telegraph campaigns against ‘Putran Dehi’

The far-left propaganda media outlet, The Telegraph, is now coming for our religious rituals. It is now running a campaign to alter the words of the Puspanjali offered during Durga Pujo. It’s asking its readers to chant ‘Santanan Dehi’ instead of ‘Putran Dehi’ during prayers.

The Telegraph is under the impression that Putran Dehi conveys a desire to be gifted a male child. However, in reality, the word in Sanskrit signifies a child, regardless of his or her gender. As Nityanand Misra, author in the field of Hinduism and Indology, explains in the Swarajya Mag, “The words ‘putrān dehi’ means both “give [us] sons” and “give [us] daughters and sons”. To understand this, we need to know the principle of ‘ekaśeṣa’ in Sanskrit grammar, by which the masculine dual can also stand for a female and a male, and the masculine plural can also stand for females and males collectively. In other words, the masculine dual in Sanskrit also serves as ‘mixed dual’ (a female and a male) and the masculine plural also serves as a ‘mixed plural’ (females and males).”

The Telegraph, in its campaign against Putran Dehi, has found support from equally harebrained progressives. Ananda Gupta, the chairperson of the 56-year-old Camden puja, told The Telegraph, “We learnt about the campaign quite late but took no time to come on board. The initiative to seek a child irrespective of gender from the goddess finds synergy with our theme of Tomar Durga, Amar Durga, which encompasses not only the affluent daughters but also the impoverished ones who jump into the river post-immersion to salvage coins or bamboo structures or seek food in dustbins. We are welcoming the LGBTQ community to our puja.”

“The mantra dates back to an age when people wanted sons rather than daughters. But we are not in that age any more,” said Parimal Dey, president of Beliaghata 33 No. Palli Bashi Brinda. “Ma-er pujo korbo ar chaibo sudhu chhele? (We’d worship the Mother Goddess but seek only son)?” said Sandipan Banerjee, puja committee convener of Behala Nutan Dal. “There is no harm if the mantra is changed,” said Bappaditya Mukherjee, who has been conducting the puja for 19 years according to the Devipuran.

The extremely little regard and the contempt the progressives reserve for traditions is revealed in the manner in which they tinker and twist essential Mantras and modes of worship without even bothering to understand the fundamentals of it. Changing the words of the prayer will have no impact at all in the manner in which society functions. The entire charade is merely an exercise in virtue-signalling.

If the progressives are hell-bent on destroying a prayer even as benign as ‘Putran Dehi’ which does not refer to a child of a particular gender at all, one wonders what else they want to destroy. It won’t take them too long to remove ‘Santanan Dehi’ from the prayer altogether as they will argue that wishing for a child itself is deeply sexist and misogynistic as the burden of pregnancy always falls on women.

The only effect changing the words will ever have is that a tradition and a mode of worship that has survived centuries and millennia will be lost to the vagaries of modernity. It also highlights that in many ways, progressivism is even more dangerous to Hindu traditions and culture than Radical Islam itself. Traditions and modes of worship that survived the atrocities of the Radical Islam empires during the ancient and the medieval era are now facing the threat of extinction due to the unhindered march of progressivism.

Amazon, Flipkart festival sales generate Rs 19,000 crores In 6 days, expected to touch Rs 39,000 crore in October alone

OpIndia Staff
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Amazon, Flipkart festival sales generate Rs 19,000 crores In 6 days, expected to touch Rs 39,000 crore in October alone

The e-commerce giants led by Amazon and Flipkart have achieved a record $3 billion or Rs 19,000 crores of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in the first six days of the festive sale from September 29-October 4 in India.

According to the reports, e-commerce websites such as Walmart owned Flipkart and Amazon managed to own 90 per cent of the market share during the six-day sale event, said Bengaluru-based research firm RedSeer Consultancy.

Interestingly, given the momentum received during the first part of the festive season sale, the entire month of October is expected to generate up to $6 billion or Rs.39,000 crores in online sales, driven mostly by Amazon and Flipkart.

“The first wave of the festive sale event has seen record GMV of almost $3 billion despite the challenging macro environment, indicating that consumer sentiment on online shopping remains bullish,” said Anil Kumar, Founder, and CEO, RedSeer Consulting.

The consulting group stated that the year-on-year (YoY) growth during the festive sale period was 30 per cent, with significant share coming from customers in tier II and III cities.

Mobile was the category leader, contributing to over 55 per cent of GMV in festive days. Reportedly, consumers delayed their mobile purchases for the festive sale season, indicating the strong “value shopping” proposition of festive days.

In GMV sale, Flipkart continued to lead with 60-62 per cent standalone gross GMV share during the sale event, and nearly 63 per cent share along with its other group entities like Myntra and Jabong, said the report.

“Strong performance across categories including mobiles was the key reason for Flipkart leadership. This was, in turn, enabled by strong value prices, high EMIs adoption and diverse selection across categories, all marketed aggressively to reach customers widely,” the RedSeer report said.

The GMV growth of e-commerce giant Amazon in India was 22 per cent (YoY). However, its volume growth rate was more than 30 per cent (YoY).

“The larger push has come from non-metro ‘Bharat’ customers, migrating to online shopping driven by the strong value provided from the online retailers across categories including mobiles, which have shown a strong surge during sale event despite having a relatively slow-growing first half of 2019,” Kumar noted.

Earlier, two big e-commerce players Amazon.in and Flipkart had announced record transactions on their respective platforms, along with adding new customers, especially from the tier II and III cities in the September 29-October 4 sale period.

Consumer electronics, smartphones, fashion and large appliances were among the top gainers as the demand surged from smaller cities and towns this year, indicating that the consumer spending has only increased in the country despite slowdown fears.

According to Amazon.in, the e-commerce company saw 65,000 sellers from more than 500 cities receive orders in just five days of the first edition of its “Great Indian Festival” sale. Nearly 15,000 sellers more than doubled the sales while millionaire sellers including “crorepati” sellers exceeded 21,000 sellers in the sale.

Targetting to bring the next 200 million consumers into the e-commerce fold, Flipkart said that “The Big Billion Days” sale witnessed almost 50 per cent growth in the number of new customers compared to last year, with 70 billion views in six days of the sale.

Flipkart added that more than 50 per cent of Flipkart Plus shoppers were from smaller cities and towns, while sales from tier 3 cities grew by 100 per cent (YoY). Nearly 50 per cent of top sellers on Flipkart witnessed three times growth and over 40 per cent of transacting sellers during the sale were from Tier 2 and beyond towns.

Al-Qaeda India chief Asim Omar killed in Afghanistan in a joint US-Afghan operation

OpIndia Staff
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Al-Qaeda India chief Asim Omar killed in Afghanistan in a joint US-Afghan operation

Asim Omar, the dreaded terrorist and the Al-Qaeda chief of South Asia region has been killed in Afghanistan in a joint US-Afghanistan commando raid on 23 September. According to the reports, Asim Omar, the leader of Al-Qaeda’s South Asian branch, was killed in a US-Afghan joint airstrike in Musa Qala district in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province in September.

The India-born head of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) was killed along with six other Al-Qaeda members in the southern Helmand province. According to US government, Maulana Asim Omar was a resident of Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh in India. He had then migrated to Pakistan in 1990.

According to a report in the AFP, Asim Omar led Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) from its inception in 2014.

Confirming the killing of Asim Omar, Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security tweeted, “NDS can now confirm the death of Asim Omar, leader of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), in a joint US-Afghan raid on a Taliban compound in Musa Qala district of Helmand province on Sep. 23.”


“Omar, a Pakistani citizen, was killed along with six other AQIS members, most of them Pakistani. Among them was Raihan, Omar’s courier to Ayman Al-Zawahiri. They had been embedded inside the Taliban compound in the Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala,” Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security further tweeted.


Reportedly, the joint US-Afghan operations also resulted in collateral damage with at least 40 people attending a wedding party in the area were killed.

Nearly 22 Taliban fighters were killed during the operation while 14 people were arrested, including five Pakistani nationals and one Bangladeshi citizen. A large warehouse of supplies and equipment was also destroyed during the joint raid.

Alleged ‘Urban Naxal’ among 180 people condemning court ordered FIR against 49 ’eminent people’ which included a convicted Naxal

OpIndia Staff
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Alleged ‘Urban Naxal’ among 180 people condemning court ordered FIR against 49 ’eminent people’ which included a convicted Naxal

A case was registered recently, on the directions of the Court, against 49 ’eminent personalities’ who had written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling Jai Shri Ram a ‘provocative warcry’ and registering a protest against the ‘increased atrocities’ against Muslims and Dalits in India. The complaint was filed by an advocate.

Following the registration of the case, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had written an open letter to Prime Minister Modi asking him to condemn the filing of the FIR against the ’eminent personalities’ on the direction of the Court, in the name of protection of ‘dissent’. Now, it appears more than 180 ’eminent personalities’ have come out and endorsed the original letter to the Prime Minister and condemned the charges it attracted.

The statement reads, “Can this be called an act of sedition? Or is harassment by misusing the courts a ploy to silence citizens’ voices? All of us, as members of the Indian cultural community, as citizens of conscience, condemn such harassment. We do more: we endorse every word of the letter our colleagues wrote to the Prime Minister. This is why we share their letter here once again and appeal to the cultural, academic and legal communities to do the same. This is why more of us will speak every day. Against mob lynching. Against the silencing of people’s voices. Against the misuse of courts to harass citizens.”

Interestingly enough, one person who is greatly concerned about the ‘misuse of courts’ to silence ‘voices’ is Anand Teltumbde, an alleged Urban Naxal accused in the Elgar Parishad case. He was arrested in the matter in February but was later released on a technicality. The Supreme Court, in the past, has refused to quash the FIR against him despite several requests.

Anand Teltumbde’s brother, Milind Teltumbde, was named in the FIR regarding the blast at Gadricholi that led to the death of 15 police personnel. Milind Teltumbde who handles the operations of the CPI(M) is also accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.

Amusingly enough, the controversial letter which attracted a case against the signatories in the first place boasted among its signatories a convicted Naxalite. Binayak Sen was convicted in 2010 on charges of sedition for his links to Naxals and sentenced to life imprisonment under sections 124A and 120(B) of the IPC. He was also found guilty under section 8(1) of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act. He was given bail by the Supreme Court in 2011. It is rather ironic that a man convicted of sedition for helping Naxalites was taking the moral high ground in the letter that referred to the signatories as “peace-loving and proud Indians”.

Thus, we have ’eminent personalities’ like Naseeruddin Shah, dancer Mallika Sarabhai, authors Ashok Vajpeyi, Nayantara Sahgal and Shashi Deshpande, historian Romila Thapar, singer T.M. Krishna, and artist Vivan Sundaram collaborating with an alleged Urban Naxal to condemn an open letter to the Prime Minister that had among its signatories a convicted Naxalite. One would have expected ’eminent personalities’ to be more careful about the company they kept but apparently, support from every quarter is justified as long as it’s in opposition to Narendra Modi.

Rahul Gandhi walking away was the biggest problem, Congress unlikely to win Haryana and Maharashtra elections: Congress leader Salman Khurshid

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi walking away was the biggest problem, Congress unlikely to win Haryana and Maharashtra elections: Congress leader Salman Khurshid

As the Congress party struggling for its survival after its humiliating defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections and followed by rebellion within the party in several states, senior leader Salman Khurshid has put the blame on Rahul Gandhi for the current crisis stating that the “biggest problem” is that Rahul Gandhi “walked away”.

According to the reports, former union minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday stated that the 49-year-old former Congress President “left in a huff” and his mother Sonia Gandhi appears to be treating herself as a stand-in arrangement until a new Congress chief is selected.

“We haven’t really got together to analyze why we got defeated. Our biggest problem is our leader has walked away,” Khurshid was quoted as saying in the AP report and adding that Rahul Gandhi still retained the allegiance of the party.

“It’s kind of left a vacuum. Sonia Gandhi stepped in, but there is more than an indication that she is treating herself as a stop-gap arrangement. I wish it wasn’t so,” Khurshid reportedly said. Sonia Gandhi was selected as interim president of the Congress party in August this year after Rahul Gandhi refused to take back his resignation, she is expected to lead the party till the time a full time president is found.

Reportedly, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid also said the struggles of the Congress party are such that it is unlikely to win the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. The former External Affairs Minister said that the struggles of the Congress party are at the point that it may not “ensure its own future”.

Salman Khurshid added that the Congress is facing attrition because it is “taking too long to come to terms” with its defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress party were able to win only 52 of the 542 parliamentary seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, compared to 303 won by the Bharatiya Janata Party. After the defeat in May, Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president and his mother, Sonia Gandhi stepped in on an interim basis.

The party is facing an existential crisis ahead of crucial state assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra that are scheduled to be held on October 21. With so much infighting, rebellion and a mass exodus of the leaders in various states, the Congress party has already given up on securing victory in the upcoming state elections.

Madhya Pradesh: VHP office-bearer shot dead by unknown assailants in Mandsaur

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: VHP office-bearer shot dead by unknown assailants in Mandsaur

In a shocking incident, a VHP functionary named Yuvraj Singh Chauhan was shot dead in Mandsaur of Madhya Pradesh by three bike-borne assailants. Besides being associated with VHP and other Hindutva organisations, Yuvraj also headed SRM cable network. The attackers are currently on the run.


According to news reports, the three assailants came on bike and attacked Yuvraj when he was out to pay the electricity bill. As per eyewitness account, three youths on a motorcycle encircled Yuvraj when he was heading towards a tea stall near abhinandan square and then shot him dead.

After the assassination of the VHP leader on Wednesday morning, the situation in the district has turned tense. The police have deployed forces as a precautionary measure to avoid any unforeseen incident.

The police has launched an investigation into the murder by sealing off the entries and exits of the district and is on the lookout for the miscreants. According to preliminary reports, the real motive for killing Yuvraj has not been established yet. However, the police is also probing the possibility of a personal animosity of the deceased with the assailants as reason for his murder.

It is noteworthy to mention that this is second murder in 2 months of functionaries having links with Hindutva organisations.

From Fani, Titli, Gaja, Kerala floods to Karnataka: Here is how the Modi government has responded to natural disasters

S. Sudhir Kumar
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From Fani, Titli, Gaja, Kerala floods to Karnataka: Here is how the Modi government has responded to natural disasters

Starting with the Kerala floods of 2018, every time a natural calamity strikes, it has become almost fashionable to blame the Modi government for not giving enough money for disaster relief or at times, not even tweeting about the disaster! The WhatsApp group of “Self-declared Eminent Citizens” are typically at the forefront of spreading these rumours. At first, I did a cursory search in the Lok Sabha website and surprisingly found out that 1000s of crores of money was indeed given by the Central government to various state governments just in the past couple of years. Very curious, I dug further.

Under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, there are two kinds of funds set up exclusively for disaster relief – the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) and the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF). In addition to maintaining the NDRF, the central government also used to contribute 75% of the funds of SDRF. So each state had to only contribute 25% to the SDRF (In the case of Special Category states, 90% came from the central government).

After the Modi government came into power, the total value of funds made available in SDRF for the period of the 14th Finance Commission (2015 to 2020) was increased from the previous INR 33,580 crores to INR 61,220 crores. That’s a startling 88% more money available for any kind of disaster relief. Additionally, starting April 1st, 2018, the Modi government has increased the centre’s contribution to the SDRF to 90%. Now, all states of the country get 90% of their SDRF funds from the central government itself.

The funds available in the SDRF are entirely at the disposal of the state government only. There is no need for the states to get the permission of the centre to use this money for all designated disasters. In case additional funds are needed, an Inter-Ministerial Team meets regularly to decide on how much to allot from the NDRF.

When the Kerala floods happened in August 2018, this WhatsApp group were at the forefront of this charade that while UAE was offering INR 700 crores for relief, our government had given only INR 600 crores. When the UAE offer turned out to be a big lie, this group went totally silent. And in December 2018, the centre released a whopping INR 3048 crores for the Kerala Floods. This is in addition to the INR 790 crores already available in the SDRF, and also in addition to many other things done at that time.

When the Titli cyclone hit the coasts of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the then AP CM, Shri N.Chandrababu Naidu was on the forefront of complaining that the centre was not giving him enough funds. Those were the days when he used to complain that the centre was not funding a new handkerchief each time he sneezes, but those were also the days when many people believed his propaganda. The cyclone hit the coast in October 2018. In addition to released INR 230 crores in October itself, the central government had given a total of INR 539.52 crores for Titli relief from the NDRF. Do note here that the state government already has INR458 crores in the SDRF, 90% of which came from the centre only! By the way, Odisha received additional assistance of INR 1023 crores from the NDRF for Titli relief measures.

Similar noise was made when cyclone Fani hit the coast and impacted AP, Odisha and West Bengal on April 2019. In a shocking move, Mamta Banerjee did not even talk to the PM when the PM himself called to assess the damage. Yet, advance assistance of INR 1086 crore was released to the three states. An additional INR 1000 crores were given to Odisha only after the PM visited the cyclone ravaged state. People who wanted to call this an election gimmick could not do so, for the simple reason that the cyclone hit Odisha and AP *after* the election was over!

When Cyclone Gaja hit Tamil Nadu, some usual suspects filed a case in the High Court. At that point of time, the HC was informed by the state government that the “Centre is yet to release 1000 crores”. Turns out that a total amount of 2177 crores was made available with the state government from the centre!

There was yet another outrage after the recent Karnataka floods. The centre has now released 1200 crores for rehabilitation efforts in Karnataka.

The expectation that as soon as calamity strikes, the central government should simply give as much money as is being demanded, is a totally unfair one. In all their responses to the various questions in the Parliament, the central government has a standard paragraph. It is important that we read it carefully (emphasis mine):

“Though the primary responsibility for disaster management rests with the State Governments, Central Government extends all possible logistics and financial supports to the States to supplement their efforts to meet the situation effectively. The concerned State Governments undertake an assessment of damage and provide financial relief in the wake of natural disasters including cyclone, from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) already placed at their disposal. Additional financial assistance is extended from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) by following the laid down procedure, which includes an assessment based on the visit of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT).”

While we speak so much about money, there are many things that the Government of India provides as logistics support that doesn’t get counted into all the above amounts I have mentioned. Like the thousands of metric tonnes of relief material (Rice, water, milk etc); Like the helicopters/aircrafts the Indian defence forces have deployed; like the boats, the Navy deploys; like the occasional tax sops; like the additional trains run; like rebuilding the national highways and so on.

While it is indeed a fashion to blame Modi for everything, it is pertinent to note that the state governments usually tend to get away with this blame game. The state governments must be held more responsible for all the rebuilding efforts. With so much relief material that pours in from various parts of the country when disasters happen, what exact reason do the state governments have to not co-ordinate exemplary rebuilding efforts?

As for the lies propagated by the usual suspects, it is a shame that they simply dust it off when their cheap propaganda is pointed out.

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